Anywhere You Go
by Beeniebot
Summary: Takes place after Love Never Dies. What if Christine hadn't been shot, but someone else instead? As Christine Daae abandons Raoul in Coney Island with Erik, taking Gustave along with her, Raoul is almost driven mad with pain and loss. But, he runs into someone else who is determined on healing his broken heart. Contains slight Eric/Christine but most Raoul/Meg


Raoul had been trying to leave Coney Island. Christine had chosen Erik over him, and the image of her singing at the opera house went through his head over and over again. He just wanted to get back to France as quickly as possible. Just to leave the hurt behind him, trusting that Christine and Gustave would be happy. They didn't need him. As much as it pained him to think this, he knew it was true. Christine didn't love him as she loved Erik. Raoul was just her sloppy seconds, and she had lied about Gustave. His own child was not even his. No, his child was infact the child of his long term enemy he had hated ever since the catacombs. Raoul dug his nails into his palms at the painful reminder as he tried to weave his way through the crowd of swarming people. The De Chagny line would end with just him now, there would be no future vicomte to carry on his name all because he had been fooled.  
As he walked hastily by different strange people doing odd things, he couldn't help but overhear some of their conversations involving Madame Giry, Gustave and Mister Y. When he had demanded an answer to what these conversations were about from a strange looking , he was told of the event that was occurring. Madame Giry had Gustave by the peer and was planning on throwing him into the surging sea below. Raoul had been utterly shocked at that. Gustave couldn't swim! Although Gustave wasn't his flesh and blood, Raoul had raised him as his own son and felt a strong Quickly, he ran towards the peer as quickly as he could.  
Meg had Gustave in her grasp as the boy clutched her arm for dear life at the edge of the pier, trembling. Erik and Christine were on their opposite side, Christine standing behind Eric, eyes wide in fear that Meg at any moment would release her child and let him fall to his death.  
"Now that I've finally got your attention..." Meg said, still holding Gustave's arm a bit carelessly with one hand. She suddenly hauled the boy up on the platform to safety, securing him in her arms. A gasp from Christine and sigh or relief came from Erik as Meg slowly released the child from her secure hold. Gustave immediately tore across the platform and hugged his mother tightly, trembling violently.  
"Meg," Erik began, but he never got to finish his sentence before Meg had taken a pistol out from where she had been hiding it. Erik froze in fear, for he thought she would at any moment turn the gun point at him or his family and pull the trigger. But she thrust the gun around so it faced her and pressed it against the side of her head, her finger resting delicately on the trigger. Tears streamed down her eyes.  
"I gave up so much to you! Me and mother came and hid you here, worked s hard so you could build your 'phantasma'! All this time I've desperately been sealing your approval and this is how you've repaid me?" She said, her voice strained with anger, confusion, fear and pain.  
"No Meg don't!" Christine cried, for a second trying to dash towards her friend. Gustave kept hold of his mother, scared to his extent of all the events that had been going on. It was a lot for him to bear. Erik looked at Meg, pitying and understandingly. He himself had been in a similar situation a little over ten years ago.  
"Meg I know. I know how you feel. I've been blind, haven't I?" he said softly, choosing his words very carefully as if he were treading over ice. For this was a matter of life and death. Erik stepped slightly closer to her. "You feel broken you feel bruised, you feel shattered you feel used, but me, I can see all the beauty underneath," He sang softly to her in his angelic voice, taking another slow step towards her.  
Meg looked at him pleadingly.  
"Yes..." she breathed. Finally he understood. Her grip in the gun began to slack. The tears kept on pouring out of her eyes as she looked at Erik, never averting her eyes.  
"Diamonds never sparkle bright, unless they are set just right. Beauty can sometimes go unseen; we can't all be like Christine..." He sang to her softly, approaching her hesitantly again. As soon as that name had hit Meg's ears and sunk in, she immediately snapped up, fighting her grip on the gun once more. CHRISTINE. It was all about Christine wasn't it.  
Meg began to cry harder.  
"Christine? That's all you care about isn't it? It's always Christine!" She cried in pain. Erik had taken this chance to close the distance between them, trying to wrench the gun from her grip. In Meg's confusion, her finger slipped and there was a loud shot before anyone had known what had even happened. A loud cry of pain was heard.  
It felt as if the world just stopped. Gustave had his face buried in his mother's dress and Christine was still as a frightened rabbit, eyes wide. And then Meg cried in horror as she saw who had been accidentally hit. Christine turned around and instantly disbelief came over her.  
The vicomte De Changny was clutching his side, his scarlet blood immediately beginning to rapidly ooze through his fingers. It stained the white shirt he was wearing and he began to collapse, trying to grab onto the platform's railing to stay upright. His breathing was becoming slow and shallow very quickly as he looked down while fighting to stay on his feet. Everyone looked confused since nobody really realized that Raoul had even been there in the first place.  
"Raoul!" Christine cried, tears in her eyes. Gustave let go of her and she ran towards her dying, wounded husband. "No Raoul, please you can't die. Not now." She pleaded, taking both of his hands off the railing and into hers, helping him surrender to laying down. Christine shivered as she realized his hands were so cold. Even if Christine didn't love Raoul the way she loved Erik, this was still the boy at the Opera house. This was still the man who raised her son. It was still her husband.  
Meg had tore off, away from all of them in shame and despair. What had she done? She never meant to kill anyone else. Simply, she wanted to end her own life. She hadn't even planned on throwing Gustave into the water.  
"Christine," Raoul said, his voice strained as it was hard for him to speak suddenly.  
"Shh darling, it'll be alright." Christine whispered to the man who was struggling to stay conscious. Christine looked up quickly at Erik. "Erik, hurry and go fetch a doctor as quick as you can!" She said, a bit desperately.  
Erik looked at the two of them, feeling a bit of jealously as Christine held Raoul close to her like that. But he took pity as he saw the vicomte's pained and pleading expression, so he took off to go seek medical attention as Christine had asked of him.  
Christine pulled her husband close to her, his head resting in her lap as she stroked his hair soothingly.  
"It will be alright darling." She said softly, tears making their way down her cheeks. 'If we had never come to Coney Island, this wouldn't have happened.' Christine thought in regret. Raoul looked at Christine with sad eyes that were full of pain. Pain from the bullet that had struck him in the side, but also the pain from the ache in his heart.  
"Christine," he tried again, shifting slightly in pain. "Christine I'm... So sorry I couldn't... Give you everything." Raoul whispered, his voice strained in pain and his sentences were choppy because he was now finding it even harder to breathe.  
"You've given me more than enough dear." Christine murmured, continuing to run a hand through his hair. It was almost as if she were comforting a child.  
"May your angel of music... Watch over and care for you... From now on." He began shaking slightly. "I understand C-Christine. When we were married we were fools. I... Couldn't see your love for him. When you tried to be free... I was keeping you pinned down unknowingly. I'm sorry Little Lotte." His eyes began to close as his breathing slowed.  
Christine just held him closer and kissed him softly.  
"You don't have to be sorry darling." She said quietly.  
"Father?" Gustave asked, his voice wavering in fear and sadness. Raoul's eyes opened wide again with all the strength he could muster and he looked at Gustave.  
"Gustave... Gustave I'm sorry that I wasn't the father you wanted. I wish... I would have played with you more. If I could go back... In time, I would fix everything. I say this to both of you." Raoul breathed. His blood-soaked, cold hand was clutching Christine's warm one.  
"It's alright papa." Gustave said, accepting his apology sincerely. "You're a fine dad." Gustave knew Raoul wasn't really his father, for he had just learned a few minutes ago. But he decided he wouldn't stop calling Raoul papa since that's the father he had grown up with his whole life. Tears began to slip down Gustave's cheeks as well. He rested his head on his father's arm.  
And with that, Raoul's eyes closed and he fell into unconsciousness.  
"Mama?" Gustave looked at Christine sadly. Christine looked at him, absentmindedly stroking Raoul's cheek.  
"Yes dear?" she responded softly.  
"Can you sing a song? For father, and for me?" Gustave asked her suddenly. Christine smiled slightly at the idea. And she began to sing the first thing that came to mind. That song from long ago at the opera house.  
"Think of me, think of me fondly," she began to sing. And she sang it all the way through to the end, remembering her voice lessons with Erik, and Raoul leaving a single red rose in her dressing room. Those memories brought both good feelings to her heart which made her smile, and haunting feelings which sometimes made her have nightmares in her slumber.  
"That was beautiful, mother!" Gustave exclaimed, looking at her with bright eyes. "You're a wonderful singer!" Christine smiled softy  
"Thank you dear. You know your father, Erik, used to teach me how to sing so wonderfully." she told the boy.  
"Really?" Gustave tilted his head. He had to get used to Erik being called his father. "You've known him for so long?" Christine nodded.  
"Yes dear, I've known him for quite a long time." she looked down at Raoul who's breathing was slow and ragged.  
Relief overcame Christine as she saw Erik approach with a few medics. The medics had taken Raoul gently and put him in a carriage to be taken to the nearest hospital. Christine watched them go with tears in her eyes.  
"Christine it's alright." Erik said quietly. "It will all be alright I promise." Christine shook her head.  
"I don't know Erik. Maybe not." She murmured. Gustave just sat by his mother, thinking back at all the horrifying events that had occurred. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and Christine noticed this. "We're going to head back to the hotel now. Gustave and I are tired. We'll come back to see you again tomorrow Erik." Christine had said to her Angel. Erik nodded to her and watched them both walk back in the direction of their hotel until they vanished out of sight


End file.
